Various applications have been developed for microcapsules in which a core material such as a perfume, flavorant, or medicine is contained in an inert, rupturable capsule, typically having a particle diameter ranging upward from a few microns. Fragrance-delivery articles using microcapsules are disclosed in various prior patents, including British Patent Specification No. 1,329,309, wherein perfume-containing microcapsules are applied to paper sheets associated with printed advertising material. The perfume is said to be releasable from the microcapsules when they are fractured by application of pressure, as by scratching. Application of microcapsules to other materials, including plastics and metal foils, is also disclosed in this patent. It is furthermore known in the prior art to incorporate perfume-containing microcapsules within adhesive binder layers that break apart, rupturing the microcapsules upon pulling of a base sheet or folded over sheet, or within or on a low-strength layer of plastic that allows rupture of microcapsules upon being stretched.
Samples of the types described above provide for effective delivery of fragrances upon rupture of microcapsules, but they suffer from a limitation in that the sampler surface from which the fragrance is being released does not have favorable tactile properties. In the case of exposed adhesive surfaces, a distinctly unpleasant sensation would be created when such surface is rubbed against the skin. Paper and plastic sheets present a generally neutral feel and not a pleasant one such as would invite the user to apply the sampler to the skin. Effectiveness of fragrance-sample advertising would be increased by providing a sampler surface with a feel that induces the recipient of the sampler to take the additional step of applying it to the skin.
Samplers which have microcapsules in contact with paper sheets present an additional disadvantage in that the paper may contain various chemicals that migrate into the microcapsules and undergo reactions with the fragrance oils, distorting the fragrance aroma and reducing the shelf life of the sampler.